Page:The history of yachting.djvu/95

Rh occupation of the Netherlands by Spain, by some ancient Spanish navigator from the Pacific, as Prescott relates in his Conquest of Peru that in 1531 Pizzarro commanded an expedition, consisting of two vessels under the immediate charge of the famous old pilot, Bartholomew Ruiz; and while sailing southward from Panama in the open sea Ruiz "was surprised by the sight of a vessel, seeming in the distance like a caravel of considerable size, traversed by a large sail that carried it sluggishly over the waters. The old navigator was not a little perplexed by this phenomenon, as he was confident that no European bark could have been before him in these latitudes; and no Indian nation yet discovered—not even the civilized Mexican—was acquainted with the use of sails in navigation. As he drew near, he found it was a large vessel, or rather raft, called "balsa" by the natives, consisting of a number of huge timbers of a light porous wood, tightly lashed together with a frail flooring of reeds, raised on them by way of a deck. Two masts, or sturdy poles, erected in the middle of the vessel, sustained a large square sail of cotton, while a rude kind of rudder and movable keel, made of plank, inserted between the logs, enabled the mariner to give a direction to the floating fabric, which held on its course without the aid of oar or paddle. The simple architecture of this craft was sufficient for the purpose of the natives, and indeed has continued to answer them to the present day; for the balsa, surmounted by small thatched huts, or cabins, still supplies the most commodious